I started by placing the platen on the floor roughly where I thought I wanted the press.  That thing is too heavy for one person to maneuver .  I greased up the axle  (still in the right frame side) and slid it into the platen.

Platen sitting upside-down on the floor

Then I slide the left-hand side of the frame onto the axle & bolted on the “X” shaped cross piece of frame.
The chase holder was the next heavy bit of metal I bolted into place. The “X” frame and chase are the only structural bits holding the press together, everything else is moving mechanicals.

I toyed with the idea of attaching the counter weight to the platen while the press was upside-down. I figured that would be too much total weight for me to lift, so I decided to attach it after I flipped the press.
As it was I was just able to move the press over onto it’s side and right it with some difficulty.

To attach the counter weight to the platen I first jammed the platen in the closed position with a heavy piece of lumber. This placed the bolt holes for the counter weight in the lowest most easily accessible position. Still I couldn’t hold the counter weight in position while I bolted it in place.
I built a ramp by setting some 2x4s in the “X” frame and managed to slide the counter-weight onto the ramp and roughly into position. Two big bolts are all that hold this thing to the platen.

Partially reassembled letterpress without inking mechanism

The heavy lifting over, I next attached the gearing, flywheel and connecting rods. I had everything re-assembled but the inking mechanism.

It was right about then that I remembered that the arms holding the ink rollers were supposed thread onto the axle between the gears and the frame. Oops. I was wondering why the gears had more play than I remembered.
Time to borrow the gear puller again.

The post Re-assembling My Letterpress first appeared on darren brant.

When I first bought the press I had access to an engine hoist & pickup truck, so moving it into storage wasn’t a problem. To move it from storage to my place I only had access to a pickup truck. To make it a bit more movable I stripped off as much of the press as I could; counter weight, connecting rods & assorted fiddly bits.

In this lighter state a rather strong man lifted it onto the pickup & the press was driven to my house. Here I strapped it to a moving dolly & wheeled it into my dinning room.

Now I have nothing to move my press with. I had toyed with renting a truck but I didn’t think that I would be able to get the press down the stairs and into the basement unless I disassembled it.

So I borrowed a gear puller and with liberal hammer beatings I managed to disassemble the press.

Moving a letterpress in my Saturn

After only three trips with my Saturn loaded down, I’ve got the press pieces into the basement.

The only problem I had was with the platen. It would only come off the axle so far before it would bind, and I couldn’t get the axel out of the frame. With a bit of liquid wrench and persistent hammering I managed to separate the parts, but I’m not looking forward to getting them back together again.
Just to give an idea of how heavy this thing is, I borrowed a hand cart just to wheel the platen around. The cart was rated for 330 pounds carrying capacity, but the plated was so heavy it still managed to bend one of the cart’s casters.

Platen in my trunk

The post Moving My Letterpress first appeared on darren brant.

challenge Galley rolling pin letterpress

When I took the legs off the press I noticed that at one time someone had spray painted the main box a flat black. Underneath the black paint looks like a faux woodgrain finish; not sure if this is how the press came originally. On the front drop down door around the name plate you can see the faux finish where the black paint has worn off.

Toronto Type Foundry Co. Limited Tononto, Ont.

The other thing I had noticed when I had the legs off is one end of the box had split where the bed screws in. Someone had attempted to repair this by bolting a board to the side, but the screws still had nothing to bite into so the bed wasn’t attached to the box at the left end.

Damage to the end of the Box.

Clamping my press

Repairing my Press

Best thing I could think to do is apply a bit of wood glue and clamp the end pieces together. I let it dry overnight and the bed appears to be more securely fastened now. I’ll still have to be careful when I move it. Not sure if I’ll keep the press in this section of the basement or move it into the attic. Either way I should be able to mount some lino type high and pull a print now.

Challenge Galley Press Back Together and Sitting in the Basement.

I did a bit of quick searching on the internet and found out that the Toronto Type Foundry went out of business in 1967. I couldn’t find out anything about this particular type of press though. It may have been made by the Challenge Machine Company but I’m still looking for more information. If anyone has any information please send me an email.

I just noticed on flickr that someone else has a press just like mine.

The post Fixing My Galley Letterpress first appeared on darren brant.